Posts tagged Topher Grace
Interstellar “Too Much, Too Little”
Nov 19th
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
INTERSTELLAR is the very epitome of a big movie: big production values, big cast, big story, big ideas, but in the end it just might have a small impact on the audience.
When the movie begins, it is the near future, and the Earth is in trouble, because cities have been abandoned, food production is practically the only industry, and yet blights have wiped out almost all of the crops, and dust storms cause life to be suspended while people are forced to take shelter inside.
Michael McConaughey stars as Cooper, a former pilot for NASA who is now a struggling farmer trying to provide a living for his family, which consists of his daughter Murphy, his son Tom, and his dead wife’s father, who is played by John Lithgow.
The reason Cooper is no longer a pilot for NASA is that science has been abandoned for being too expensive and unncecessary, NASA has gone underground, and children in school are being told that Americans never landed on the moon.
One day Cooper and Murphy stumble into a secret NASA compound, where they learn that NASA is still involved in space exploration, only now as a solution to the world’s problems by searching for a planet in another solar system where humanity can travel to live and survive.
The program is being led by Professor Brand, played by Michael Caine, and he tells Cooper, “We need a pilot, and this is the mission you were trained for.”
Professor Brand’s daughter, Amelia, played by Anne Hathaway, is also a scientist, and she will be accompanying Cooper on the mission, which consists of traveling to the planet Saturn, going through a wormhole that is known to exist there, and emerging at another solar system, where they are to find a planet that will be hospitable to humans.
But wait! The story gets even more preposterous.
A black hole is involved in the journey, and because time will be slowed down for Cooper and his crew, they will age much more slowly than the people on Earth.
Thus, Murphy grows up while Cooper is gone, she is now played by Jessica Chastain, and she also becomes a scientist working with Professor Brand.
INTERSTELLAR goes on way too long, it contains too much technobabble, and the loud sound covers up the dialogue.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Interstellar – Movie Trailer
Nov 17th
With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.
“The Big Wedding” Lives Up to Its Name
May 13th
“Lives Up to Its Name”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Big Wedding is like a French farce, only without the madcap pacing, which is halfway understandable, because it is adapted from a 2006 French comedy, Mon Frere Se Marie, which means “My Brother Is Getting Married.”
Those French sure have a way with words.
Anyway, speaking of the pacing, this adaptation starts off slow, but then really takes off, which might be explained by the fact that it was scheduled to be released in 2012, but came out in 2013.
The impressive cast includes Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon, and Robin Williams, although Williams sticks out like a sore priest, which is what he plays.
Here is the plot: Don and Ellie were married for 20 years, but they have been divorced for the last 10 years. Their adopted son, Alejandro, who was born in Colombia, is getting married, and his birth mother is coming to the wedding.
However, the mother is very religious and conservative, and so Alejandro asks Don and Ellie to pretend that they are still married.
No problem, right? In fact, their own daughter tells them, “So, just pretend to be married for the weekend. What’s the big deal?”
Well, as the title says, it is going to be a big wedding on Don’s estate, Don’s girlfriend Bebe is living there with him, his own birth son Jared is 29 and still a virgin, and the groom’s mother is also bringing her pretty daughter to the wedding, who falls for Jared and keeps trying to seduce him.
Wow, this has all the makings of a French farce, doesn’t it? The French part we get, the farce coming up.
Now just add equal parts of Don’s being a successful sculptor of what could be called shockingly erotic subjects, as well as having a very healthy libido; the bride’s parents both having a previous history with Don and Ellie; Don’s daughter is estranged from him because of a previous indiscretion; and she has her own personal problems in her own relationship which result in two big surprises that are going to affect her.
As somebody always says, you couldn’t make this stuff up, but of course they did.
The Big Wedding lives up to its name with a big cast, a wedding, and even more, much more.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”